NexusFi: Find Your Edge


Home Menu

 





BC's TST CL Combine


Discussion in Trading Journals

Updated
      Top Posters
    1. looks_one abctrading with 38 posts (63 thanks)
    2. looks_two trendwaves with 21 posts (47 thanks)
    3. looks_3 Daytrader999 with 3 posts (4 thanks)
    4. looks_4 WillSmithRules with 3 posts (2 thanks)
      Best Posters
    1. looks_one shanemcdonald28 with 2.5 thanks per post
    2. looks_two trendwaves with 2.2 thanks per post
    3. looks_3 abctrading with 1.7 thanks per post
    4. looks_4 Daytrader999 with 1.3 thanks per post
    1. trending_up 12,769 views
    2. thumb_up 126 thanks given
    3. group 11 followers
    1. forum 76 posts
    2. attach_file 176 attachments




 
Search this Thread

BC's TST CL Combine

  #71 (permalink)
 
trendwaves's Avatar
 trendwaves 
Florida
Market Wizard
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: NinjaTrader 8
Trading: ES, NQ, CL
Posts: 703 since Dec 2012
Thanks Given: 2,898
Thanks Received: 2,525

Shame about the tech glitch/feature you ran into on the first long entry setup.

If you had been filled on that long , it would have made your rollover, and the rest would never have happened.

Thoughts in retrospect:

It's a tough decision with respect to trailing stop management. In this I mean, once your trade is X ticks into a profit, do you continue to leave your stop at it's original point or tighten it up ? This is something I notice early on into your combine, where you would get 10 ticks into profit and still have the original stop, thus 20+ ticks of open risk. Maybe go back over your valid trade setups in your combine, even the ones you missed or had some technical issue with, and see if you had done everything perfectly and with a different trailing stop technique would it have helped you reduce your overall risk.

For example: If the new trade goes 8 or 10 ticks into profit then adjust the stop to the technical swing level where your entry signal formed. When the first contract is filled at first target, adjust your stop to the next technical swing level if one exists... and so forth until you run out of contracts or the trailing stop is hit for a profit.

Also, as we discussed, starting with 3 contracts , given only 10 days to work with, makes it mathematically much harder to reach the profit goal because with only 10 days the total number of trade setup's is limited. If it's me with those TST risk/reward/time constraints, I am going in with max contracts (5) right out of the starting gate with a much tighter risk control strategy as mentioned above. The heat of 5 contracts is going to force you to manage the risk better. Starting with half the contracts (3) and such a wide stop/open risk, then the profit targets will have to be a lot bigger to make the math work given the 10 day constraint. By the day 7'ish point in the combine, you even suggested letting the second contract run for 100 ticks, which indirectly confirms my analysis.

Thanks for sharing your experience, and for allowing me to share my thoughts as well. I think you have a good trading method, so stick with it and keep learning and growing in your skills.

Be Patient and Trade Smart
Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Reply With Quote
Thanked by:

Can you help answer these questions
from other members on NexusFi?
Ninja Mobile Trader VPS (ninjamobiletrader.com)
Trading Reviews and Vendors
Better Renko Gaps
The Elite Circle
Exit Strategy
NinjaTrader
Are there any eval firms that allow you to sink to your …
Traders Hideout
Online prop firm The Funded Trader (TFT) going under?
Traders Hideout
 
Best Threads (Most Thanked)
in the last 7 days on NexusFi
Get funded firms 2023/2024 - Any recommendations or word …
59 thanks
Funded Trader platforms
37 thanks
GFIs1 1 DAX trade per day journal
22 thanks
NexusFi site changelog and issues/problem reporting
22 thanks
The Program
20 thanks
  #72 (permalink)
Eric B
Fort Worth, Texas
 
Posts: 49 since Jun 2013
Thanks Given: 2
Thanks Received: 15

Sounds like you still have a bit to work on, and combines are an expensive way to work! I think they still have a 'practice account' type subscription, where you pay only $100/month to sim trade all you like and develop further at your own pace and trading approach. If you can mentally maintain the same focus (despite there not being a deposit on the table to lose) it's a much more economical path to take. TST is great for development in this way.

When you're fully ready, take that combine to see if you can pass, or even just make a little bit of dough - these two things are a good indicator that you're ready.

Then it's up to you decide whether to work for them, or take your newfound abilities to a self-funded account.

However, I would advise against being in perpetual try-to-beat-the-combine mode - you'll find you'll have spent all of your time and effort to gain what actually amounts to a pitifully small sized trading account (since the live trader cut-off losslimit is the acct size to you) where you'll be trading with very high leverage. And if you manage to make money under these conditions, you then only keep 60%.

Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #73 (permalink)
 
abctrading's Avatar
 abctrading 
Long Beach, CA
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: MotiveWave, NT7, NT8
Broker: AMP Futures - CQG and Rithmic
Trading: Futures - CL, 6E, ES, NQ, YM
Posts: 79 since Oct 2011
Thanks Given: 57
Thanks Received: 76


RE:
Quoting 
Trendwaves - "Thoughts in retrospect":

Yes these are great points and I will be looking into the trades I took as well as the ones I did not and try to weigh them all out. I think one thing I will be doing for sure will be to add entry criteria into this plan. For example, using a 1 min chart, if I were to see a reversal type candle in a zone or area of interest, I may be able to enter and reduce risk considerably more than if I were to just stick with this 6 range 14/15 tick stop size. Another for sure if I enter with 2 or more will be to have that T2/T3 run a bit .. like at least to a zone of opposite type. Perhaps even just using 15 min zones as entry and target areas.

I will also look into the concept and crunch some numbers on your suggestion of running 5 cars right off the bat, and what kind of targets make sense with something like that.

I may even just look into the possibility of just doing the smallest combine and trade 1-3 cars which only has a $1500 profit target. Again, will be crunching numbers and looking at past trades and do some more testing and will come up with something.


Quoting 
Eric B - "I think they still have a 'practice account' type subscription, where you pay only $100/month to sim trade all you like"

Good ideas and suggestion, however I will pass on their practice acct. Seems silly to me to pay $100/mo to do what I can already do for free with Ninja and SIM accts. (I do have an acct with AMP that has funds in it, which gets me the free data feed). Having that little bit of skin in the game is great, but not quite what I am looking for especially as I am just re tweaking that plan. Perhaps once the plan is set and ready to go, that skin in the game would be good .. but then at that point, if I think the plan is a go .. then it's combine time for me.

Regarding the split and acct size .... yea that is a concern, however, for me and my current financial position, it's either go for it with TST, or hang it all up until I have enough funds to do it on my own. If I can figure out a plan that works well within their parameters, and get funded, then start socking away the splits to be able to trade my own acct .. or even build it up and utilize their OPM and leverage with larger size .... something that I definitely would not be able to do any time soon right now, it seems worth it to me. The deposit amounts are not that big, and really, the way that I am adding it up, I could take $1000 and have 5 stabs at a combine to get funded, or I could drop that $1000 into my AMP acct and still only be able to trade one to two cars, and IF I were to make a few bad entries, and blow out, then what? I am pretty sure if somebody gets funded, and blows out, they go back and do a combine to get funded again .... not sure if that is a "rollover" combine or if they have to pay though for that, but if you have done it once, you should be able to do it again? I dunno, maybe I am cray cray .... and I can tell you one thing for sure .... I will be testing and crunching numbers and will figure out something here within the next few weeks.

Thanks again for the comments/suggestions.


bc

Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Started this thread Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #74 (permalink)
 
bobwest's Avatar
 bobwest 
Western Florida
Site Moderator
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Sierra Chart
Trading: ES, YM
Frequency: Several times daily
Duration: Minutes
Posts: 8,162 since Jan 2013
Thanks Given: 57,343
Thanks Received: 26,267


abctrading View Post
RE:

I am pretty sure if somebody gets funded, and blows out, they go back and do a combine to get funded again .... not sure if that is a "rollover" combine or if they have to pay though for that ....

They used to say that if you were funded and had to go back to the Combine (blew the account), you would be eligible for two free Combines. I went looking for that today on their web site and couldn't quite find that, but this may be your answer:

What happens if I struggle as a funded trader? ? Help & Feedback Center


Quoting 
What happens if I struggle as a funded trader?

A funded trader can opt for the Redevelopment Opportunity and they will receive two complimentary 10-Day Combines. Details will be discussed with each funded trader.

I'm not sure what "struggling" means here; probably an email to their support would help clarify current policy.

But it looks like you would have the option. Hope that helps.

Bob.

When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #75 (permalink)
 
trendwaves's Avatar
 trendwaves 
Florida
Market Wizard
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: NinjaTrader 8
Trading: ES, NQ, CL
Posts: 703 since Dec 2012
Thanks Given: 2,898
Thanks Received: 2,525

I was thinking about this today, and I had the thought that perhaps you might consider starting a new Journal as a follow on to this TST Combine Journal.

It would make a nice tool for you as you modify your trading strategy coming out of the Combine experience. I think you did a really nice job with this journal. The new journal would help you get your strategy organized and help you stay on track with what you come up with.

If you think about it, the Combine's function is to hold your feet to the fire with respect to adherence to a set of trading performance goals. Maybe your Journal could help fulfill that role for you. Lay out your personalized performance goals in the journal, and document your progress in achieving them.

Be Patient and Trade Smart
Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #76 (permalink)
 
abctrading's Avatar
 abctrading 
Long Beach, CA
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: MotiveWave, NT7, NT8
Broker: AMP Futures - CQG and Rithmic
Trading: Futures - CL, 6E, ES, NQ, YM
Posts: 79 since Oct 2011
Thanks Given: 57
Thanks Received: 76


trendwaves View Post
I was thinking about this today, and I had the thought that perhaps you might consider starting a new Journal as a follow on to this TST Combine Journal.

It would make a nice tool for you as you modify your trading strategy coming out of the Combine experience. I think you did a really nice job with this journal. The new journal would help you get your strategy organized and help you stay on track with what you come up with.

If you think about it, the Combine's function is to hold your feet to the fire with respect to adherence to a set of trading performance goals. Maybe your Journal could help fulfill that role for you. Lay out your personalized performance goals in the journal, and document your progress in achieving them.

Thanks Trendwaves ... I will chew on this and try to figure out a way to journal that modification.

One thing I noticed while journaling this last month ... is how I really need to get a grip on how to juggle or balance "Life." A marriage, our first newborn kid, two J. O. b.'s ..... trading, backtesting .... and topping that all of with an informative, engaging, and helpful journal has not been easy. Thank goodness the kiddo started sleeping thought the night, but wow, when I started that combine .... that sleep deprivation stuff was no joke

With that, I know there is a way, I just really need to navigate through it all and weave it together so that I have some sort of balance. I will try to figure out some sort of formula or method to document my modifications and discoveries, or results, so that it is not boring, will actually make some sense, and I guess most importantly .... helpful. (suggestions very welcome here )

Thanks again for the comments and suggestions.


bc

Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Started this thread Reply With Quote
  #77 (permalink)
 
trendwaves's Avatar
 trendwaves 
Florida
Market Wizard
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: NinjaTrader 8
Trading: ES, NQ, CL
Posts: 703 since Dec 2012
Thanks Given: 2,898
Thanks Received: 2,525

Ran across this TST webinar today that might be helpful...

Kevin Davey presents "Post Combine Trading Analysis" - YouTube

Be Patient and Trade Smart
Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Reply With Quote




Last Updated on February 26, 2014


© 2024 NexusFi™, s.a., All Rights Reserved.
Av Ricardo J. Alfaro, Century Tower, Panama City, Panama, Ph: +507 833-9432 (Panama and Intl), +1 888-312-3001 (USA and Canada)
All information is for educational use only and is not investment advice. There is a substantial risk of loss in trading commodity futures, stocks, options and foreign exchange products. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
About Us - Contact Us - Site Rules, Acceptable Use, and Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy - Downloads - Top
no new posts